Progress: More than three projects were funded, including trials of sleep, anxiety, seizure and gastrointestinal (GI) interventions, meeting the objective. Additional work will be needed in the future to fully address these conditions.

Remaining Gaps, Needs, and Opportunities: Sleep issues, anxiety, hyperactivity and GI issues are key co-occurring medical conditions in patients with ASD. Although there is much more known today about sleep initiation than what was understood 5 years ago, there is little understanding of what interventions/treatments are effective for sleep maintenance or night awakening. There is not much known concerning anxiety treatments for those with ASD, and challenges exist regarding the adaptation of anxiety treatments from outside ASD patient groups. Research into interventions for hyperactivity may be transferred from populations outside of those with ASD (i.e., ADHD). Though there has been an increased awareness of gastrointestinal difficulties and common symptoms among people with ASD, little is known about the etiology of autism-related GI issues. More research on the etiology of GI issues will be needed to develop appropriate treatments/interventions.